13-year-old boy charged in father’s shooting death

Thirteen-year-old Joseph Giacona III told police there were no guns in sight when he came home last January to find his father with a fatal gunshot wound to his head, according to police reports.

ROCCO LaDUCA

Thirteen-year-old Joseph Giacona III told police there were no guns in sight when he came home last January to find his father with a fatal gunshot wound to his head, according to police reports.

Later that night, however, he changed his story and said he did place a shotgun in a gun cabinet after finding it on the floor of their Vernon home, the reports show.

Eight months later, Giacona III was charged Thursday as an adult with second-degree murder after police said they located the weapon used Jan. 24 to kill 37-year-old Joseph Giacona Jr. locked inside that same gun cabinet, prosecutors said during a news conference at state police headquarters in Oneida.

“We believe we have the weapon that was used,” Oneida County Assistant District Attorney Kurt Hameline told reporters. It was a .410 New England shotgun, with a spent casing, he said.

Giacona III has always denied having anything to do with his father’s death inside their 14 N. Sconondoa St. home, Hameline said.

“That’s his version and he’s sticking to it,” Hameline said.

Hours earlier Thursday, Giacona III – who stands roughly 5 feet tall and weighs less than 90 pounds – pleaded not guilty to the murder charge after he was arraigned at 10 a.m. in Oneida County Court on a sealed grand jury indictment.

Giacona III will be held in a secure juvenile detention facility until he returns to court Friday, Oct. 3, to discuss a possible disposition, Judge Michael L. Dwyer said. If found guilty, Giacona III faces a life sentence in prison.

Motive not released

What still remains unclear, however, is what reason Giacona III might have had to kill his father while he apparently slept on the couch after returning home from school that day.

“I can’t comment on that,” Hameline said.

Hameline acknowledged the case was based solely on circumstantial evidence, without any eye witnesses. And that’s why police conducted a very “exhaustive” investigation before prosecutors were ready to charge Giacona III, Hameline said.

Especially considering the age of the accused, he noted. This is the first 13-year-old ever prosecuted as an adult in Oneida County, Hameline said, and perhaps only three or four others cases have ever been prosecuted across the state.

“It was very important we cross the T’s and dot the I’s and get everything done upfront before we go ahead and accuse someone,” Hameline said. “We want to be very, very careful that we were pursuing the right person.”

Mother in disbelief

But Giacona III’s mother, Rachelle Rustici of Whitestown, doesn’t quite see it that way.

Considering the amount of time it took to build a case against her son, “I just hope that it takes a very short time for them to find out that he is not the one who did it,” she said following Giacona III’s arraignment.

“I can't believe that, with everybody working on the case, they couldn’t find another direction to go down,” Rustici said. “Obviously I stand by my child. I, 100 percent, don’t believe the indictment.”

At the news conference, Hameline said he’s very confident in the strength of the case, especially in light of the inconsistencies in Giacona III’s story.

Suspect’s statement

This is how Giacona III initially described discovering his father, according to his signed police statement filed in court:

“When I got in the living room, I saw my dad on the couch” after arriving home from school around 2:35 p.m., Giacona III stated. “I saw red blood on him and a hole on his face … He wasn't talking but made a humming noise like he was trying to talk. I didn't touch him.”

A further look at other police statements stemming from the case reveal where Giacona III’s story doesn’t quite add up.

Did Giacona III find any guns? Giacona III told police several times he did not find any guns around his father's body, and he repeatedly denied moving any guns. But during an interview with state police investigators Michael Grande and Edward Marecek, Giacona III changed his story.

After Giacona III said he didn't move any guns, the investigators wrote, “Joseph was asked if he was sure, because the guns would all be checked for fingerprints in order to catch whoever might have hurt his father and it was very important to know if he had actually seen a gun in the room and had moved it to protect his Dad.”

That's when Giacona III said he did find a .410 shotgun on the floor near the gun cabinet, they wrote.

“I picked it up and went over to the gun cabinet and put it back inside where it belonged,” Giacona III told the investigators. “I got the key for the cabinet off the top of the cabinet where it is kept, I unlocked it, and put the gun back inside.”

Giacona III said he then put the key back on top of the cabinet, they wrote.

What time did Giacona III get home from school? Giacona III initially told police he got off the school bus at about 2:35 p.m. and found his father on the couch moments later bleeding from a gunshot wound, according to police reports. The teen said he then ran upstairs and called 911 on his cell phone.

That call wasn't made until about 3:16 p.m. – about 40 minutes after Giacona III said he arrived home, investigators noted.

When investigators asked if Giacona III was “leaving something out,” he replied, “When I went up to use my cell phone to call 911, it was dead so I had to charge it for a little while before I could call.”

Investigators Grande and Marecek then questioned why Giacona III didn't use the house phone, to which the teen replied: “I didn't want to use the phone because it was right next to my Dad. I didn't use the other phone that is in my Dad's bedroom because I'm not supposed to go in there.”